Sunday December 21, 2014

After a lovely breakfast, we were on the road by 8:15 am. A short ride today from Pilon to Media Luna, we didn’t want to cycle the 90 kms to Manzanillo in one go. Umberto had called a friend in Media Luna and gave us her address plus a couple of extra addresses for Casas in Manzanillo and Bayamo.

Umberto said it wasn’t going to be a hilly ride, but the German ladies we spoke to said they had to cross the Sierra Maestras and it was hilly. At about the 2 km mark I said to Ralf I had no legs, he said I would get my second breath and would be fine. After going slightly uphill for 4 kms I saw my least favorite road sign warning of wiggly roads for the next 2 kms. As soon as I see a wiggly road sign, I know that means we are going uphill, and we did – 2 kms of winding uphill, climbing to a height of 286 metres, not very high, but with no legs I struggled, but didn’t get off. As soon as we crested the hill we had another 6 to 8 kms of rolling hills then we headed downhill all the way into Media Luna.

We stopped in one village for a rest and some nuts. We watched a granddad play baseball with his two grandkids. The old guy could really swing a bat and the kids were running after the balls and catching them like little pros.

We are back into sugar cane country and they have started the harvest. It was interesting to watch them, I have never seen sugar cane being harvested, I thought it would be similar to cotton or corn. It is similar, but they start at the edge of the field and work their way across.

We arrived at Media Luna at 10:45, we stopped to get our bearings and check the address, a young man on a bike stopped and asked if we were Ralf and Jacqueline and took us straight to the casa. I am glad he did because there is no official casa sign on the house. It is a nice casa and the host is very nice, she made us sandwiches and juice and then we settled into our room. She is hoping to extend the house upwards to have more rooms. From the roof we spotted three rusted trikes and a go-kart of some kind. I would clean and paint them and put them in my garden with flowers in them. Oops I don’t have a garden any more.

After a lukewarm shower we headed out to explore Media Luna. It is not a very inspiring town, by the time we were walking through the town at 12:30 most of the men were drunk or well on the way. We have noticed this a lot in towns and villages as we cycle through. There are a lot of drunks in Cuba, mostly because they do not have work so they drink. Rum is incredibly cheap and can be bought by the shot at little roadside cafés. Rum is cheaper than water and beer.

The museum across the road from the casa is under renovation and was the home of Cecila Sanchez, one of Castros closest friends and compatriots during the revolution. In the central park is a fountain and statue of Cecila to commemorate her involvement during the revolution.

The house is an old wooden structure, but quite nice.